Issues excluded from being the subject of referendums at the national level

Article 115 (Referenda)

4. The following are excluded from the scope of referenda:

a) Amendments to the Constitution;

b) Questions and acts with a budgetary, tax-related or financial content;

c) The matters provided for in Article 161 of the Constitution, without prejudice to the provisions of the following paragraph;

d) The matters provided for in Article 164 of the Constitution, except for the provisions of subparagraph (i).

5. The provisions of the previous paragraph do not prejudice the submission to referendum of important issues concerning the national interest that must be the object of an international convention pursuant to Article 161(i), except when they concern peace or the rectification of borders.

Article 161. The Assembly of the Republic shall be responsible for:

A) Passing amendments to the Constitution in accordance with Articles 284 to 289;

B) Passing the political and administrative statutes of the autonomous regions and the laws governing the election of the members of their Legislative Assemblies;

E) Granting the Legislative Assemblies of the autonomous regions the authorisations provided for in Article 227(1)b;

F) Granting generic amnesties and pardons;

Article 164. The Assembly of the Republic shall possess exclusive responsibility to legislate on the following matters:

D) The organisation of national defence, the definition of the duties derived therefrom and the basic general elements of the organisation, operation, re-equipping and discipline of the Armed Forces;

F) The acquisition, loss, and re-acquisition of Portuguese citizenship;

G) The definition of the limits of territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone and Portugal’s rights to the adjacent seabed;

M) The status and role of the officeholders of bodies that exercise sovereign power and local government officeholders, as well as of the officeholders of the remaining constitutional bodies and of all those who are elected by direct, universal suffrage;

N) Without prejudice to the powers of the autonomous regions, the creation, abolition and modification of local authorities and the rules governing them; [...]